TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Highway Patrol has spent millions of Florida taxpayer dollars deploying troopers to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a mission to help Texas authorities combat illegal immigration, state financial records obtained by News 6 show.
The expense reports detail some of FHP’s costs associated with Operation Lone Star, such as trooper overtime pay, meals, fuel, and vehicle maintenance. But other expenses, including the cost of troopers’ hotel rooms in Texas, remain undisclosed.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in 2021 to address a sharp increase in illegal border crossings that he attributed to President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
Florida soon began sending state resources and personnel to assist.
“This is part of a years-long effort for us to help do what the federal government has refused to do, which is to actually defend this country’s borders,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in February as he bid farewell to dozens of FHP troopers headed to the Mexico border. “You’ve seen the (illegal immigration) numbers go down and that’s really because you have Texas putting forth huge effort and then all these other states coming by to help. So we want to be a part of that. We think this is an American issue.”
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The governor’s decision to send highway patrol troopers to Texas came at the same time FHP was struggling to fill vacant positions at home. Observers have raised concerns about the agency’s funding and ability to adequately serve the citizens of Florida.
Over a 10-month period between July 2023 and April 2024, FHP spent nearly $13.5 million on resources deployed to Texas, records obtained by News 6 indicate.
For perspective, $13.5 million is roughly what it would cost FHP to hire 48 additional troopers and purchase new vehicles for their use, state budget records indicate.
But that figure does not reflect the state of Florida’s full cost of sending FHP troopers to the Mexico border.
Troopers’ regular salaries, which would have been paid by FHP regardless of whether they were performing law enforcement duties in Florida or Texas, are not included in the agency’s tally.
In April alone, troopers deployed to the Mexico border were paid $332,314 in regular salary and an additional $683,445 in overtime, records show.
A total of nearly $10 million in overtime and associated benefits were paid out to Florida troopers in Texas between July and April, financial documents indicate.
Another $911,245 was spent by FHP on meals and per diem travel expenses during that 10-month period, records obtained by News 6 show.
Those travel expenses do not appear to include lodging for troopers, who typically stay in name-brand hotels and motels while deployed in Texas. A representative from one hotel, where more than a dozen troopers stayed in February, said FHP was charged a $189 nightly rate per room.
FHP did not respond to questions inquiring whether it or another state agency was responsible for troopers’ lodging costs as part of Operation Lone Star.
Florida troopers on patrol in Texas spent $836,017 on fuel, car washes and vehicle maintenance between July and April, documents show.
Financial records provided by FHP to News 6 indicate the agency purchased at least new three vehicles specifically for use during Operation Lone Star: a Ford F-150 Police Responder truck and two Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs that cost a total of $193,230. An agency spokesperson did not respond to questions about those vehicles.
FHP has also spent thousands of dollars on dry-cleaning and laundry services in Texas, records show, an expense that troopers typically pay out of their own pockets when they’re back home in Florida.
Besides highway patrol troopers, DeSantis has deployed personnel from several other state agencies to Texas, including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Florida National Guard and the Florida State Guard.
The total cost of Florida’s involvement in Operation Lone Star has not been disclosed by the state.
DeSantis indicated in a 2023 press release that resources deployed for emergency situations through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact are eligible for FEMA reimbursement.
Representatives with the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is coordinating the state’s efforts in Texas, did not respond to questions inquiring about potential reimbursements from the federal government or state of Texas.
FHP did not respond to questions from News 6 inquiring about the number of troopers currently deployed to Texas and the number of migrants those troopers have encountered.
When a News 6 crew traveled to Eagle Pass, Texas, in February, the agency said 76 troopers were deployed at undisclosed locations along the border.
At the time, FHP said its troopers had “contacted” 148,488 undocumented aliens in Texas while also participating in traffic stops, conducting commercial vehicle inspections, and assisting with crashes.
(STORY CONTINUES BELOW)
While FHP has been sending resources to Texas, some observers have questioned the agency’s ability to adequately patrol Florida’s highways.
“There is a significant insufficiency of the number of Troopers on regular duty, so the levels of law enforcement and deterrence are far below what they should be,” said Paul Novack, a Miami attorney who serves on the Florida Highway Patrol Advisory Council.
Novack published an opinion column in the Tallahassee Democrat Tuesday urging state lawmakers to increase FHP’s budget, possibly by devoting a portion of the state’s toll revenue to the agency.
“Due to lack of funding, the 2024 (FHP training) academy class was cancelled, and a hiring freeze was imposed,” wrote Novack. “Meanwhile, the numbers of people, vehicles, and road miles have all risen dramatically.”
Although Novack does not criticize FHP’s participation in Operation Lone Star, he believes it has contributed to demands on troopers.
“Indeed, special assignments like those at the Mexico-Texas border, protecting houses of worship, working at protests, and supplementing local agencies at spring break locations all create additional drains and diversions upon the staffing and funding of the Highway Patrol,” Novack told News 6.
Last year, DeSantis proposed spending $13.9 million to hire 50 additional FHP troopers. That request included a $2.2 million line item for the acquisition of new vehicles.
Coincidentally, the governor’s $13.9 million budget request is close to the $13.5 million FHP spent in Texas on overtime, food, fuel, and other expenses over a 10-month period.
When DeSantis signed the 2024-2025 state budget in June, a press release noted that $3.3 million had been allocated for the replacement of “aging Florida Highway Patrol vehicles,” but there was no mention of the 50 additional troopers the governor originally sought.
An FHP spokesperson did not respond to questions inquiring whether the agency received funding to hire any additional troopers in the current fiscal year.
FHP has struggled for years to fill open positions. The agency had 102 vacancies out of 1,982 sworn positions as of March, records show.
As FHP continues to deploy troopers to Texas, many state and national leaders are demanding that more needs to be done to curb illegal immigration.
Earlier this summer in Washington, D.C., the House Budget Committee held a hearing titled, “The Cost of the Border Crisis.”
The committee’s chair, Republican Texas Congressman Jodey Arrington, cited a study published by the Federation for American Immigration Reform that found illegal immigration has cost American taxpayers more than $150 billion.
“The lion’s share of that cost is borne by state and local governments,” said Arrington. “State and local governments can’t borrow or print money like the federal government. And so they’re having to balance their budgets by either absorbing this cost through raising taxes, or they’re having to cut services to their citizens.”
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